xt7vdn3zwb6w https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7vdn3zwb6w/data/mets.xml Aiken County, South Carolina South Carolina Historical Records Survey 1938 Prepared by the Historical Records Survey, Division of Women's and Professional Projects, Works Progress Administration; 115 pages: illustrations, maps, charts, plans, 27 cm; Includes bibliographical references and indexes; UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries; Call number Y 3.W 89/2:43/So8c/no.2 books English Columbia, South Carolina: Historical Records Survey This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. South Carolina Works Progress Administration Publications Inventory of the County Archives of South Carolina, Number 2 Aiken County (Aiken) text Inventory of the County Archives of South Carolina, Number 2 Aiken County (Aiken) 1938 1938 2015 true xt7vdn3zwb6w section xt7vdn3zwb6w Y l2 Li€1’;; wl<*M*W*@ @@¤M*>*#M
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INVENTORY OF COUNTY ARCHIVES
OF SOUTH GAROLINA·
as
Prepared by
The Historical Records Survey
_ Division of Women's and Professional Projects
Works Progress Administration
?
N¤. 2. AIKEN coumri (AIKEN)
it
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Columbia, S, C,
The Historical Records Survey
December 1938
Ad
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é
The Historical Records Survey i
Luther H, Evans, National Director
Anne K. Gregorie, State Director
Division of Women's and Professional Projects
Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator F
Margaret D, Davies, State Director
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION Q
Harry L. Hopkins, Administrator
Lawrence M. Pinckney, State Adndnistratcr
I c
e
o
& FOREWORD
The Inventory of County Archives of South Carolina is one of a number
of bibii¤gFa"p"1¤`1§§'¤?'h'E`1s OIT¤“a1‘°"`mace“r1EIs’;5Fe}5a‘”‘Ei'€r"rea o-ughout the United
States by workers on the Historical Records Survey of the Works Progress Ad-
ministration. The publication herewith presented, an inventory of the ar-
chives of Aiken County, is number 2 of the South Carolina series.
D The Historical Records Survey was undertaken in the winter of 1955-56
C for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy unemployed histori-
ans, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical workers. In carrying out
this objective, the project was organized to compile inventories of histori-
cal materials, particularly the unpublished government documents and records
which are basic in the administration of local government, and which provide
invaluable data for students of political, economic, and social history.
The archival guide herewith presented is intended to meet the requirements
of day-to-day administration by the officials of the county, and also the
needs of lawyers, business men and other citizens who require facts from the
public records for the proper conduct of their affairs. The volume is so
designed that it can be used by the historian in his research in unprinted
, sources in the same way he uses the library card catalog for printed sources.
The inventories produced by the Historical Records Survey attempt to do
more than give merely a list of records - they attempt further to sketch in
I the historical background of the county or other unit of government, and to
describe precisely and in detail the organization and functions of the gov-
ernment agencies whose records they list. The county, town, and other local
inventories for the entire country will, when completed, constitute an ency-
clopedia of local government as well as a bibliography of local archives.
The successful conclusion of the work of the Historical Records Survey,
even in a single county, would not be possible without the support of public
, officials, historical and legal specialists, and many other groups in the
community. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged.
The Survey was organized and has been directed by Luther H. Evans, and
operates as a nation-wide project in the Division of Women's and Professional
Projects, of which Mrs. Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator, is in
charge.
HARRY L. HOPKINS
, Administrator
U
° PREFA cm
The Historical Records Survey began on a nation-wide scale as part of
i the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, and became
in October 1956 an independent part of Federal Project No, l. Under the na-
` tional leadership of Dr. Luther H. Evans, the Survey has inventoried state,
county, city, church, and, to a limited extent, private records. At present,
it is preparing for publication in a condensed form, descriptive lists of
public records of the local units of government. In each state the counties
are numbered in alphabetical order, and treated as separate units, each with
an introductory section giving ·the historical background and a description of
the present government and records system. All records are referred to the
office of origin, which is carefully described as to history, functions, and
_ required records. Each type of record is given a numbered entry showing the
comprehensive dates for which it is extant, the quantity, an interpretation
of contents, and details as to nature of recording, indexing and location.
State, municipal, church, and other records will be described in separate
publications.
In South Carolina the Historical Records Survey was begun on March l,
1956. Through Professor R. L. Meriwether, head of the department of history,
it has enjoyed the active aid of the University of South Carolina, which, as
co-sponsor of the project, is contributing the offices of state headquarters.
The officials of the Works Progress Administration in South Carolina have also
given every cooperation. Mrs. Margaret D. Davies, director of the division of
_ women's and professional projects, has been an able administrative ally.
The survey of Aiken County records was begun on June 2, 1956,by Mrs.
_ Bertrice V, Parker and Miss Florence Valentine. Miss Valentine resigned on
July l8 and the work was continued by Mrs. Parker alone until she left the
project on October l. The Aiken unit remained closed until March 8, 1937,
when Miss Rebecca Vieth began work in the office of the county commissioners,
where she put in order and filed many old claims before surveying the records.
At the end of July Miss Vieth resigned. The records in the warehouse were
arranged and the remainder of the first listing was completed by Mrs. Rebecca
Orr in August 1937. The legal and historical research and the preparation
of the essays were worked out in the state office under the plans of the na-
‘ tional office; and the condensed inventory was checked by Mrs. Carrie L.
Perry of Edgefield, February 15-May I6, 1958. The final recheck was made by
Mrs. Perry under the supervision of Miss Vivian Barnette of the state office
staff, July 6-29, 1958. All stencils for text and illustrations were cut by
Paul Jordan, draftsman of the state staff. The index was prepared by Martha
W. Hellams, supervisor of indexing, James C. Lever did the binding.
The forty—six separate units of the Inventory of County Archives of
South Carolina will be issued in mimeographed form-for free distributibn to
, state and local public officials and to a selected group of public and insti-
tutional libraries. Requests for information should be addressed to the
state director, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
QTVAJ K / i1' ‘\·J(
August 9, 1958 Anne K, Gregorie
State Director
Historical Records Survey
I
- 1 -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Aiken County and its Record System Page
1. Historical Sketch. ............. . ........................... .. 4
2. Governmental Organization and Records System .............. ... 8
5. Housing, Care, and Accessibility of the Records ............. . 14
4. Abbreviations, Symbols, and.Explanatory Notes ................ 16
B. County Offices and their Records
I. Legislative Delegation. .......................... ..... ....... 18
II. Board of County Commissioners ...................... . ....... .. 19
Minutes and Reports. Claims and Warrants. Bookkeeping
Records. Supplies and Contracts. Bonds and Notes.
Special Accounts. Hospital. Correspondence.
III. Clerk of Court as Register of Mesne Conveyance. .............. 26
I Real Property; Deeds and Plats; lbrtgages. Personal
Property. Statutory Liens. Attachments of Real
Estate. Business Registrations. Miscellaneous.
IV. Commissioner of Location (defunct) ........................... 52
V. Clerk of Court .................... . ..... . .................... 52
County Officers. Professional Registrations. Business
Registrations. Licenses. Receipts. Military Records.
Voters and Elections. Bond Issues. Vital Statistics.
Maps. Correspondence.
, VI. Circuit Court of General Sessions. .............. . ............ 57
Sessions Cases. Dockets. Minutes. Records of Clemency.
Jurors and Court Costs. Fines and Forfeitures.
VII. Circuit Solicitor ...................... . ..................... 4O
VIII. Grand Jury ................................................... 41
. IX. Board of Jury Commissioners ....... .... .... . .................. 42
»
X. Circuit Court of Common Pleas ..................... . .......... 42
Judgments. Calendars. Legal Notices. Minutes. Estate
Records, Miscellaneous.
XI. Master ......... . ......... . ................................... 48
2
- 3 -
Table of Contents
Page
XII. Judge of Probate ................ . ................ . ......... 5O
Transmission of Property; Papers of Record and Indexes;
, Transcripts. Inheritance Tax. Accounts. Sales Accounts.
Court Procedure. Commitments. Marriage. Pensions.
Liquor Permits.
XIII. Magistrates. ............... . ..................... . ......... .. 57
XIV. Sheriff ...................................................... 59
Writs, Warrants and Executions. Sales. Criminal Records.
Correspondence.
XV. Rural Policemen (defunct). .................. ........... .... .. 64
XVI. Coroner, .............. .' ........ . ............................. 64
XVII. Auditor .....c.... ..... ..., . ....... . .... . _... . ,r.............. 65
Tax Records. Miscellaneous Financial Records. Discon-
tinued Records. Administrative Records.
XVIII. Board of Equalization ........ . ..... . ........... ..... .,....... 69
XIX. Treasurer. ........., ,.. , ...,... ... ...` ....... .. .... . .,~... .. 70
Taxation. Discontinued Records. Bonds. Bookkeeping
Records. Correspondence.
XX. Forfeited Land Commission... ........... . .... . ................ 76
XXI. Board of Education .......... . .,........ . ..,.... . .... . ....... . 76
XXII. Superintendent of Education. ................................. 78
Reports. Financial Records. Teachers. School Districts.
Supervisor of Adult Schools.
XXIII. Library Commission ........................................... 82
XXIV. Board of Registration ...... . ....... . ........ . ........ . ....... 85
XXV. Commissioners of Election ............ .......,. ............... 85
XXVI. Democratic County Committee. ..... . ....,.......... . ........... 84
XXVII. County Board of Control (defunct). ............... . ........... 85
> XXVIII. County Board of Public Welfare. .............................. 85
XXIX. Board of Honor ..............................,.~.............. 86
XXX. Service Officer ................... . ...., . ............... . .... 87
$51
Table of Contents
Page
XXXI. Health Unit ........~......~ . .»...v........¢..¤.¤........... 87
Correspondence and Reports. Maternal Health. Child
Health. Venereal Disease Records. ‘
XXXII. Hospital ........,......... C. ................................ 89
Minutes and Reports. Admissions. Case Records.
Financial Records.
XXXIII. Forest Fire Control Boardu ................................. 92
XXXIV. Agricultural Extension .... . .....,... . .......~..,...~... .... 92
XXXV. Soil Conservation Board .................... , ...L.....,.... 95
Index
Chronological.u ........................r....u............ 95
Alphabetical ............... .4 ......~.....L..........`.... 97
Illustrations
Aiken County Courthouse .......,................. frontispiece
Map of Circuit Court Districts, 1769 .......~ .... following 5
Map of Counties and Circuit Court Districts,
1785 ....°.. follgwing 6
Map of Circuit Court Districts, 1800 ........¤... following 7
Map of Counties, 1868 .......r.................°. following 8
. Chart of County Government ................................ 13
Map of Aiken County ................... .. ..»..... fcllpwing l7
Map of Counties, 1958, showing year of origin ............ end
- 4 -
(First entry, p. 20)
l. HISTGRICAL.SKETCH
Aiken County lies on the Savannah River midway between the mountains
and the sea. The county is traversed diagonally by the fall line between
the piedmont and the plain, marking the prehistoric beach edge whose white
sand hills are now a hundred miles from the Atlantic.
Here the ancient Indian path to the Mississippi crossed the Savannah.
When DeSoto came in the spring of 1540 on his memorable quest for gold, he
crossed the Savannah at Silver Bluff, so called because of its shining mica
(L. Cheves, editor, "Shaftsbury Papers" in Collections South Carolina His-
torical Society, Vol. V, Charleston, 1897, p. 460); and here He received-
gracious hospitality and ropes of pearls from the beautiful Indian queen of
the rich province of Cusitachiqui. A generation later Juan Pardo followed
the path from Port Royal along the Savannah to the mountains, and found
here Muskogean tribes whom the whites were later to call "Creeks".
After Charles II of England conferred these Spanish domains upon his
eight loyal friends as lords proprietors of Carolina, the English traders
found the Savannah River area dominated by a tribe of Yuchi called Westoes,
whose ferocity gave them the reputation of man eaters among their neighbors
(Shaftsbury Papers, pp. 166, 200).
In 1670 the emperor of Cusitachiqui was visited, perhaps near Silver
Bluff (ibid. 191), by the first English settler in South Carolina, Dr.
Henry Woodward (ibid. 189). Four years later Woodward went upon his ad-
venturous "Westo 5iscovery" and tarried ten days in the Westo settlement
at Silver Bluff, where he excited such curiosity among the savages that
the "smaller fry" climbed up and uncovered the top of the town house to
view him (Shaftsbury Papers, p. 459). At an early date the Westoes were
displaced By the Shawnee, from whom the name Savannah is derived. By
1685 the Savannah Town opposite the Sand Bar, later a famous dueling
ground, had become an established trading center. Following the bloody
Yamasee War of 1715, the English built Fort Moore at Savannah Town, and
the province maintained a small garrison there until the Cherokee War
near the close of the colonial period practically ended the danger here
from these Indians.
So anxious was the province for settlers upon this Indian-French-
Spanish frontier, that the general assembly in 1722 passed an act offer-
ing to settlers beyong the Three Runs immunity from taxation and from
prosecution for small debts (Stat. III, 176-78). After the province be-
came a crown colony, the royalnggvernor received instructions to layjoff
eleven townships as homes for settlers and to protect the frontier. It
was then that the township of New Windsor was laid out on the Savannah
in 1735, opposite Augusta, which also dates from that year. Two years
later Swiss settlers came, led by Johanne Tobler and their pastor Bar-
tholomew Zauberboules. Pioneers of British stock also moved in, and a
For abbreviations and explanatory notes see pages 16, 17
..5-
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 20)
group settled among the beech trees along the Savannah between Hollow Creek
and Horse Creek, where plats of 1740 (R. L, Meriwether, Expansion of South
Carolina MS.) show their name of Beech’s Island for the region (Stat. IX,
295), This had been modified by 1780 to the form of "Beach Island", now
Beech Island (John Stuart's map of South Carolina and Georgia; 0rdinary's
Book, A 1, Ninety Six District, p. 14).
During the Revolution the area lay in the path of armed forces that con-
tended for the mastery of Augusta, but most of the fighting was on the Geor-
gia side of the Savannah River. Fort Moore on the South Carolina side, oppo-
site Augusta, was garrisoned by the British, and a well traveled path led
from it to Granby on the Congaree. Fort Galphin, a stockaded post at Silver
Bluffjwas captured in 1781 by Colonel Light Horse Harry Lee.
With the return of peace there was a rapid flow of ex-soldiers to vacant
lands, and the invention of the cotton gin brought a new money crop to plant-
ers, Augusta flourished as a successful trade rival of the older metropolis
Charleston, which, in the first quarter of the new century, suffered a severe
economic depression. In the hope of alleviating this situation, the town of
Hamburg was laid out on the South Carolina side of the river opposite Augusta,
financed by a state loan to Henry Schultz, founder and promoter, secured by a
mortgage on the town (Stat. VI, 477). As early as 1821 Schultz had been au-
thorized to establish a warehouse and tobacco inspection at this site (Stat.
VI, 159). -———
Eight years later Hamburg was chosen as the terminus of the first Amer-
ican steam railway, which was built from Charleston by capital subscribed in
1829 by Charleston business men. Completed in the fall of 1855, the road
brought considerable importance to Hamburg, In 1822 the Bank of Hamburg had
been chartered by Henry Schultz and others (Stat. VIII, 40), and in 1850 a
branch of the Bank of the State of South CarEliHa was authorized to be estab-
lished there (Stat. VI, 420). When chartered in 1855 (Stat. VI, 557), the
town boasted a population of 1200 (ZHammond:7, South Carolina p. 698).
On July 4, 1876, the centennial of national independence, Hamburg was
the scene of the birth of the "Red Shirt" movement which ended the rule of
carpetbagger and scalawag in South Carolina (A. B. Williams, Hampton and
[§E_Bed Shirts, Charleston, 1955, p. 27). Hamburg has now ceased to exist.
Two other towns of economic significance in the development of Aiken
County are Vaucluse and Graniteville, both in the famous Horse Creek Valley,
one of the pioneer cotton mill regions of the South. William Gregg, after
demonstrating that the poorly managed mill at Vaucluse could be put on a pay>
ing basis, acquired possession in 1845 with his brother·in-law. Three years
later he began to build the Graniteville plant, with its almost 9,000 spindles
and 500 looms. The hundred cottages clustered about the blue granite factory
building was the first typical mill village in the South, (Broadus Mitchell,
William Gregg, Chapel Hill, 1928, passim.)
During the closing days of the Civil War, Ki1patrick's raiders were sent
‘ For abbreviations and explanatory notes see pages 16, 17
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to destroy the Graniteville cotton mill, the only one in the South that ran
without interruption through the war. The plant was saved by the Confederate
cavalry under Wheeler, in an action which is known as the battle of Aiken.
The area of modern Aiken County has existed under many previous names.
During the colonial period it was theoretically in Granville County, but
there was no local governmental organization and the name was a mere geograph-
ical expression. In 1769 the first circuit court act divided the state into
seven districts or precincts. A line from Silver Bluff to the mouth of Rocky
Creek of the Saluda River and thence in the same course to the Broad, divided
Ninety Six and Orangeburg Districts. (J. F. Grimke, Public Laws..., Phila.,
1790, p. 269.) This line still appears upon modern maps in the diagonal
township line which bisects Aiken County from southwest to northeast.
When county courts were set up in 1785 in the counties of these dis-
tricts, portionsof Winton, Orange, Lexington and Edgefield Counties (Stat.
IV, 661, 664) comprised the area of present—day Aiken. When county courts
were abolished, these counties on January 1, 1800, became the circuit court
districts of Barnwell, Orangeburg, and Edgefield (Stat. VII, 284), to which
Lexington was added by division in 1804 (Stat. V, 478).
In 1866 a bill passed the senate to create a new judicial and election
district called Aiken County. But the Charleston delegation, fearing the in-
creased representation this would give the up country, defeated the bill in
the house (D. D. Wallace, History of South Carolina, N. Y., 1954, 4 vols. III,
156). Five years later, however, under the alien constitution of 1868, Aiken
County was created by statute in 1871 from portions of Barnwell, Orangeburg,
Lexington, and Edgefield Counties (Stat. XIV, 695), The county was given the
name of its county seat, which, as a station on the old South Carolina Rail-
road, had been named in honor of William Aiken, first president of the rail-
road, who had successfully executed the great task of assembling men and money
for the enterprise. As Aiken was on the crest of the road, the trains at first
returned to Charleston from that point, and the descent to Hamburg was by
windlass on an inclined plane (U. B. Phillips, Transportation in the Eastern
Cotton Belt, N. Y. 1908, p. 158). —____—°-_**___“_-*_—'_“_—~_—
The first officers of Aiken County, installed in 1872 were: sheriff,
Hiram Jordan; probate judge, Henry Sparnick; clerk of court, Joseph Quash,
a respected Negro tailor; auditor, James Harling; treasurer, Simeon Beard,
Negro; school commissioner, John Gardner; county commissioners, E. P. Stoney,
Negro, as chairman, S. B. Spencer and William Peel; legislative delegation,
senator, C. D. Hayne, Negro, and representatives, Prince Rivers, Sam J. Lee,
Gloster Holland, also Negroes, and William B. Jones, the sole white member.
For more than a year the commissioners met in the home of the chairman.
The first court was held January 15, 1875, in the courthouse, Judge
‘ John J. Maher presiding. The first courthouse was the Gregg mansion on Col-
leton Avenue, purchased for $19,450 (Ms. Sessions Journal A, pp. 12-15),
A such a questionable su that the com issioners responsible were indicted by
For abbreviations and explanatory notes see pages 16, 17
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Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 20)
the grand jury and several were convicted of embezzlementa
The first jail was built of logs and lined with planks three inches
thick (Centennial Celebration, p. 9). In 1879 a new courthouse and jail
upon a ne?Fsite*were authorized (Acts 1879, pp. 159-41). Two years later
the sale of the former Gregg property to finance the jail was sanctioned in
a special act (Stat. XVII, 554), and the present courthouse was erected. In
1925 the present-jail, utilizing the walls of the old jail, was built behind
the courthouse under an appropriation of $40,000 (Stat. XXXIII, zoo).
The town of Aiken is handsomely laid out with spacious residential lots,
broad streets and parkways. It is variously claimed that Aiken was origi-
nally surveyed in 1852 by Achille de Caradeux (H. W. Smith, Life and Sport
in Aiken, N. Y. 1955, p. 1); and from plans drawn in 1854 by C. OT—Facalis
EERYUYTTK. Dexter, engineers of the first railroad (Centennial Celebration, p.
5). Although the census of 1950 shows a population of only 6,055 there is a
large winter colony of Northern horse lovers, who since the l880's have come
for polo, drag hunts, and other sports. Thousands of acres in the vicinity
have been laid out in bridle paths for horseback riders. The interest in
horses dates from before the Civil War. In the spring of 1874 the Aiken
Jockey Club was incorporated by Thomas G. Bacon, Johnson Hagood, Garris Ashley,
Henry Sparnick, W, A. Williams, John McKay, Luther W. Willimns, T. C. Morgan,
and E. J. C. Wood (Stat. XV, 728).
Aiken County has always been important in agriculture. The minutes of
the Beech Island Agricultural Club, founded in 1846, show that the planters
under the lead of such men as Senator James Henry Hammond were actively in-
terested in the scientific side of their profession. In 1910 the county be-
came the birthplace of home demonstration work, when Marie Samuella Cromer
Seigler, a teacher, organized the first tomato club for girls. A factor in
rural education at Beech Island is the Downer School, now a unit of the state
system, but originally founded for orphans under the will of Alexander Downer,
who died in 1820 (Edgefield County Record of Wills, transcript, Will Book C,
pp. 97-100).
Aiken County is bounded on the southwest by Georgia, from which it is
separated by the Savannah River; on the northwest by Edgefield and Saluda
Counties; on the northeast by Lexington County, from which it is separated
by Chinquepin Creek and the North Fork of Edistc River; on the southeast by
Barnwell and Orangeburg Counties (Stat. XIV, 695; Code 2977). The line on
Barnwell County was slightly altered~in 1874 (StatT—YV, 649).
The area of the county is 1100 square miles, giving it third place in
the state in size. The population in 1950 was 47,405. (
Bibliography
Andrews, Columbus, Administrative County Government in South Carolina, Chapel
Hin, 11101411 ca1~¤ " ‘“`— ‘_’"”’“ ’“ """ """"“
Centennial Celebration Commemorating the Founding of Aiken South Carolina,
ga§_e°Ii§s'5"““‘_‘“°""“‘“"“'°“‘"""‘“““"“"“”“‘*""‘
I For abbreviations and explanatory notes see pages 16, 17
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- 3 -
Governmental Organization and Records System (First entry, p. 20)
Cheves, Langdon (ed.), "Shaftsbury Papers" in Collections of the South Caro-
lina Historical Society, Vol. V, Charleston, 1897:m`”—'_—"__
Derrick,_ST—FK—CentEnHia1'History of the Sguth Carplina Railroad, Columbia,
1930.
Edgefield County, Record of Wills, CWA transcripts, Will Book C, 1817-35,
in University of South Carolina Library.
/Hammond, Harrg§7, South Carolina, Charleston, 1883.
Hayne, P. H., " ikeHT_SEuth Carolina" in Appleton's Journal, New York,
Dee. 2, 1871.
Mitchell, Broadus, William Gregg, Factory Master of the Old South, Chapel
Hill, N. C., 1928. _-—-_-___
Phillips, U. B., A History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, New
York, 1908. _-—_—_*__*—-·—___-——_—_—___.-_-—_-——~—-—_-——-_-—m———~—-
I Smith, H, W}, Life and Sport in Aiken and Those Who Made lt, New York, 1935.
waiiace, D. of`, Tf1'ST:‘6?y"¤'r""‘s¤1F¤'1·f'C"ar¤1TE¤E,“4 "'°v¤1§Z'j‘ “"NeN" r'§k, ism.,
Watson, E. J., Handbook ET South Carolina, Columbia, 1908.
Williams, Alfred B., Hgmptpn and his ged Shirts, Charleston, 1935.
2. GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION AND RECORDS SYSTEM
The first counties in what is now South Carolina were laid out in accord-
ance with the royal charter of 1665, and the feudal plans of the Earl of
Shaftsbury as worked out by John Locke in the fundamental constitutions (art.
3, Stat. I, 43). These counties functioned to only a limited degree, chiefly
as election units, and they survived merely as geographical place names for
the location of land grants.
The county court act of 1721, approved by the crown following the revolu-
tion of 1719 which had overthrown the proprietors' rule, provided for local
administration through courts presided over by local justices of the peace
(Stat. VII, 166-76). But these courts also functioned only for a limited
period and then fell into disuse, probably because poverty stricken pioneers
preferred to mete out justice informally without the expense of courts.
The counties of 1785 revived these plans for local administration (Stat.
VII, 211-42). Although county courts were rejected in the low couwtiy dla:-
tricts where parishes were established and vestries met the needs of